Playing tag with the stomach flu

For some reason our kids got the stomach flu back to back to back in June. Not a fun way to start out the summer. It seemed like just as we were getting back to venturing to the local pool, one of them would come down with it again. Thank goodness for tub baths, Desitin, Tylenol and Pedialyte (we should invest in stock with this one)!

New house

We moved into our new home over Memorial Day weekend. My parents and brother Jeff came back to help us with the feat. I thought that moving just a few miles from our rental home would be easier than moving from Utah to Iowa or from Iowa to Kansas. Not sure it was any easier, maybe a bit harder as it drug out over two months. But, regardless of the heat, or the two dozen trips back and forth, we finally got all of our stuff moved in. That is moved in to the home or the garage (that was so full of boxes we couldn't get a car in until mid-June). Then a couple of weeks later our basement was finished and we could finish moving our things in. We love our new home. We love the fact this is where our kids are going to be raised and celebrate so many joys of our lives together. And, I really enjoyed working with our contractor to finish the basement. It was a great learning experience for me and I think it turned out really well. If you're ever in Kansas City, come visit! We'd love to have you over.

Summer fun

Jackson and Kate have loved exploring their new neighborhood together. It's fun to watch how close they've become. Jackson won't do anything Kate wants to do. And Kate, well she has to be able to do everything Jackson does. They love helping around the house: blowing the leaves, sweeping, watering the flowers, etc. They also love getting into lots of mischief: letting all of the air in the bike tires out, climbing into our cars as if they are going to be the chaffeur for the day, and the new pantry is now "theirs" so any time they want food, they go in there and get it.

OKAPS passed!

On Monday, May 22, I picked up a letter out of the mailbox that we had been waiting for since March. It contained Jason's OKAPS results. I didn't wait for Jason to open it but ripped it open and saw that he passed. I was so excited to tell him the kids and I raced to the balloon store before he got home to announce the results. Jason didn't quite understand who the balloons were for that said "congrats" until he saw the letter. We had such a fun night celebrating this tremendous milestone. We're very proud of Jason and all of his hard work to pass this important test. Now, on to the oral boards in San Fran this fall.

Goodbye Irina

For six months we had an exchange student from Germany living with us. Irina helped Jackson and Kate learn a lot of Russian during her time with us. We wish her the very best in her pursuits to become a physician.

Kansas City Missouri Temple

May 6, 2012 the Kansas City Missouri Temple was dedicated. Jason and I were so thrilled to be able to attend the special service in the temple. It was a cold, rainy day. We felt the spirit so strongly that day as we listened to talks given by the new temple president, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, and President Thomas S. Monson. We love our temple and are so grateful to have it so close to us so that we can experience the blessings found by frequenting it often. We also loved having Jason's parents Sally and Greg come visit us one last time before they left on their mission to Vladivostok, Russia. We were able to attend a session in the temple the first day it opened.

Happy Easter 2012

Easter Day was a beautiful day in Kansas City. We enjoyed a special church service focused on the true meaning of this wonderful day

. After our meetings, we ate a yummy dinner then waited for the kids to nap while the Easter Bunny hid some eggs for the kids. Jackson and Kate loved finding the Easter eggs and then eating their treats.